Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1887-03-11
ACTS Approved ny the President After
Congress AdtOurMs.

To the Editor Of THE EVENING STAR:
IN Fridays star you say, in relation to the cap.
tured or abandoned property act which President
Lincoln approved eight days after Congress e2.
LIN, section by section, In what Is known as the
act of July ed, 1884. BY that means all the pro
VISIONS OF the act were made valid and thus con.
troversy and litigation avoided. In that way the
act OF 1884 superseded the invalid act, and it is
the latter that has been administered by the court
eI clalms. In this you have been miSinformed and
are enerely In error The act OF July 1864, In
stead Of re-enactng the act Of March 10 ''section
~ sectlon, proceeds throughout upon the recog-
nltlon OF the validity OF the former act, and ex-
tenuS ana amends 1t In some particulars and
| leaves others and the most vital parts unchanged
section provides the places where 'sales OF cap
Marea I %s act OF
Secuon2 enacts that in addition to the cap
tured and abandoned property to DE received, col
ected and disposed OF provided in said act, the
SAID agents shall take charge, &C., Of abandoned
lands, houses and tenements," anG "that the first
section OF the act to provide for the collection OF
is hezeby extended so as to include certain other
property mentioned In the confiscation acts &C.,
n an1 section SIX OF said first mentioned act is
hereOy amended SO as to include every description
OF property in the acts Of July Ii. 1851 and July
II, 1862 Aforesaid Section 9 repeats SO much OF
1.-The fourth section OF the act approved March IL,
1863, as directs the manner Of distributing fines
penalties and fofeitures" Congress would not
have repealed what never had any fore. Section
by the naval forces shall not be regarded prize,
but shall be promptly delivered to the proper OFF,
GERS OF the courts or provided in this act and
the said act approved March IL, 1853"
There Is nowhere in the act the slightest indica-
tion that Congress regarded the act of March IL,
1863, as invalid AS shown above 1t is many times
cited as the act approved March Il. and II it had
been considered not to be In force 1t would have
been confirmed or re-enacted. That was not done
but with more additions and the repeal Of part OF
one section, all its other provisions were left un-
touched Especially is that the case with the
third section, which Is not referred to in the
act OF July 3 1854, and yet it contains the provi-
sion giving to the Court OF Claims jurisdiction to
hear and determine claims OF loyal owners for the
proceeds OF property taken under that act. The
Court OF Claims derived its whole Jurisdiction
in captured or abandoned property cases from this
third section, and that court gave judgment in
favor OF more than 500 claimants for sums amount
ing in all to nearly ten million dollars, and many
OF the cases went to the supreme Court on appeal,
and that court took Jurisdiction Without question:
ing the validity OF the act. SEQ Hodges, case
1S Court OF Claims Reports, q, 700.
II acomm1ttee OF Congress made areport against
the validity OF the act Congress did not follow it.
but proceeded upon exactly the opposite cOnclu.
sion. Reports OF committee do not make the law,
they bind nobody, and are not to be set up to
overcome the action OF Congress itself, the eXecu-
tive and the judiciary.